Said the Gramophone - image by Matthew Feyld

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Roots Have Roots Too
by Jordan

Taj Mahal and Toumani Diabate - "Catfish Blues"

In the summer, Sean posted a song from Kulanian the surprisingly beautiful collaboration between Taj Mahal and Toumani Diabete. I remember that he was very excited by the song ?Queen Bee,? which someone had sent him. I told him that I had the album and that it was consistently great, though I preferred the dusty, character drenched Taj Mahal vocals to the gregarious big smile of Diabate.

Mahal?s Guitar is a lumbering elephant and Diabete?s kora is a scurrying mouse. They are friends (though my editor, Max Maki, claims that they are certainly not friends).

One magical property of the album was brought to my attention on the occasion of Sean?s most recent visit to Montreal: when he asked if he could copy Kulanian, I explained to him that it had been taken from me when I was robbed for the first of two times a few years prior. He was disappointed and returned to Scotland in a thick haze of depression.

But today I found it; an unshaken survivor of two robberies.

***

Blind Lemon Jefferson - "Dry Southern Blues"

Blind Lemon Jefferson may have been interested in a lot of things. That?s a fact. But on ?Dry Southern Blues? he shows very little interest in singing a vocal line that relates in any way to his guitar work.

Dylan covered Jefferson?s ?See That My Grave?s Kept Clean? on his debut album. And John Fahey played guitar with Canned Heat for a while. Do I need to spell it out for you? Everything's connected!

2:50 AM on Feb 11, 2005.
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Oh Where Am I?
by Jordan

Sorry for my absence this week - I've been having some mystery technical difficulties. I will try and make a post later this morning, but will definitely be sharing The Good with you by early evening.

Also coming up this week: exciting announcements about StG authorship (be prepared to be sent into a tizzy)!

5:27 AM on Feb 10, 2005.
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Anecdotal
by Jordan

The first thing I ever heard about Wolf Parade was from the Arcade Fire?s Win Butler who said something like that they were the best band in Montreal or the best band he?d heard in years. Knowing that Win is into very little indie-rock I was curious to hear what set Wolf Parade apart. The first time I saw them play, they were opening for the Arcade Fire in Toronto and I liked them, though Elvis Costello and David Bowie jumped out too immediately as influences. Then I heard ?Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts? and Wolf Parade went from being a band I was interested in, one with potential to do something good, to a band whose future output I wait for impatiently.

Upon listening to the tracks from their CBC session, I was struck by the sheer distinctiveness of Spencer?s voice - something that I didn?t take in listening to ?Sons and Daughters,? a song whose vocal sermonizing seemed so integral to the perfect whole. On lesser songs, the vocals can seem over the top and affected. His voice is both an asset and a liability; it goes some distance in giving the band its own sound, but also demands that the songs be strong enough to support it, so that the vocal style does not immediately become cliched.

Wolf Parade - "I'll Believe In Anything, You'll Believe In Anything"

My editor, Max Maki says that this song reminds her of Sharon, Lois and Bram. I don?t know what she?s talking about, of course, but in the spirit of sharing...

Wolf Parade - "Unknown Title"

The band?s other vocalist sounds exactly like Isaac Brock and Bruce Springsteen.

5:11 AM on Feb 4, 2005.
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Friends are Friends and Other Logical Truths
by Jordan

Wooden Stars - "The Cigarette Girl"

The Wooden Stars are currently on something like a reunion tour. They will be playing in Montreal in March and I will be there, excited and nervous. Excited because the Wooden Stars are one of my favourite bands and I was afraid that they had broken up for good, and nervous because I so want them to be good, would be so disappointed if they didn?t live up to what I expect of them. After all, The Moon, though a good album, was less surprising and original in the songwriting and playing than their earlier work.

On ?The Cigarette Girl? we hear what makes the Wooden Stars such a great band. They move seamlessly from complex but straightforward musical interplay (jangly guitar, fat bass, banjo flourishes, weird bag of glass and springs drums) to restrained spiritual outbursts; notes held back until the last minute, appearing suddenly out of necessity, each a bright revelation. Their voices are strained, pushed to their voluminous and dynamic limits. The songs, though structurally unorthodox, remain entirely coherent and natural.

At 3:58, when the guitars come in slow and heavy behind the ?She?s a good cigarette? refrain, be jealous that, if you didn't, that you didn't grow up in their hometown like I did and that, if you won't be, that you won't be at their Montreal show like I will.

***

Jeff Hanson - "Just Like Me"

If Elliot Smith had been a man who sounded like a woman, he would have sounded like this man. Crisp acoustic guitar and impressive gender-bending vocals are what this song is about.

3:09 AM on Feb 3, 2005.
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You Are Addressed
by Jordan

Sun Kil Moon - "Carry Me Ohio"

Singing nostalgic childhood remembrances above the tentative
bass/guitars/glockenspiel conversation, Mark Kozelek's voice can do
anything, easily fluctuating between the extremes of his impressive
range.

Don't be lonely, in this song you have a friend.

***

Aislers Set - "Hit the Snow"

There's not a lot to dislike about this song. Do you dislike Beach
Boys vocal harmonies and deep, hollow tom/bass drum sounds? If so,
why (considering the fact that they are so good)? Would you count
displays of facility in songwriting and arrangement as likes or
dislikes? If you count them as dislikes, email me to apologize.

The Aislers set also show off some lo-fi Motown production and guitar
tones, just to prove to you that they know about the good and how to
set about engaging with it.

4:01 AM on Feb 1, 2005.
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Rocksteady and Chicago Soul
by Jordan

Stranger and Patsy - "Down the Trainline"

Stranger and Patsy sing in exquisite harmony throughout ?Down the Trainline,? but the subtle highlight is the four seconds when, starting at 0:25, Stranger sings alone, a most subdued and sleepy soul, drawing out every note, taking his time. The bounce, click and tap of the rhythm section is pleasing to me also.

***

Baby Huey - "Hard Times"

Baby Huey was a four hundred pound man who produced from his huge body a huge voice. Though his name was almost certainly conceived ironically, there is also something true in it: the baby?s lyrical approach and gritty whine are like that of a child hard done by.

?Hard Times? is a claustrophobic and sinister Chicago soul number. The low frequencies are filled with bass and brass, and the treble ones with skittering and crooked guitar lines. The middle of the sonic space is occupied by a full horn section and Baby Huey?s anguished and passionate voice.

Pay special attention to the psych-funk build-up to nothing starting at 2:05.

4:07 AM on Jan 28, 2005.
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Failures to Communicate
by Jordan

Exuma - "The Obeah Man"

Who was Exuma?

He was a spirit who came from a planet, now extinct, brought to us on a lightning bolt, who had communed with Charon, the ferryman of the River Styx and Vodun priests. When he informed the world of his travels and even warned of the armageddon, he left the Earth, perhaps tiring of the corporeal and moving to the ethereal. (Brian Philips, Exuma fan site)


Yeah, so this is what this and all other Exuma songs are about. He sings a sort of Bahamian jungle gospel, praising the greatness of himself, the lord.

The singing is astounding in its religious fervour and soulfulness, the arrangement is dense and playful, the back-up vocals are almost as insane as Exuma himself.

?When Exuma say the word, you gonna turn into a big black bird,? so watch out.

***

Richie Havens - "Here Comes The Sun"

In trying to decide on a companion piece for Exuma, I first thought of Nina Simone. She covered a few Exuma songs (believe it or not), but I couldn?t find any of those covers. I did, however, listen to her cover of ?Here Comes the Sun,? which caused me to think of Richie Havens?s cover of the same song. On a number of occasions during their respective careers, Exuma and Richie Havens shared a stage. It is also arguable that they shared a certain aesthetic.

Havens?s thumb-barred chords propel the band (pedal steel, bass and drums) forward. Atop the band, his voice floats with an ease and integrity that justifies his covering a Beatles song.

4:22 AM on Jan 26, 2005.
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